The well known system-wide test suite, PCMark 05, has a special test aimed at gauging hard drive performance. In the XP start up sub-test, WD's Raptor scored the highest. This is largely due to its low access time (seek time). Similar results are seen with the Hitachi 1 TB drive that has a low access time of 6 ms. Seagate's nOO.ll and the WD Caviar SE16 750GB followed closely. In the Virus scan testimportant because it involves lot ofrO-the Seagate Barracuda nOO.ll 500 GB, delivered an astonishing 142 Mbps.

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Seagate's 750 GB and 1 TB were trailing, but still ahead of the WD and Hitachi drives. Seagate's 80 and 160 GB Barracuda are at the bottom of the heap and it's partly the 2-MB cache that's to blame! Please stay away from these drives-the 250 GB is a much better bet.